What is Truly Forbidden?
by The Edgy Bubble
Summary: After Edward leaves Bella for a second time, Bella must slowly learn how to stand for herself, with the help from a quite unexpected source...
1. Agreements

**Chapter 1!**

**Title: **_'Agreements'_

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!!**

**Note:**** My first Twilight fic, and probably my only… I never really planned on writing one before, but after seeing New Moon, inspiration for this particular couple wasn't too hard to catch. Lol :D**

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**Well, I hope somebody can enjoy this…**

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"Edward…." I called his name sleepily as I stretched out my hand to the other side of my bed, hoping to feel the sudden chill of marble-textured skin.

I shouldn't have felt that crushing disappointment when my fingers only fell through the air to land on the rumpled, empty, blankets beside me…. I should've been used to it by now…

… The same way I was slowly starting to get used to the dreams again.

I had gotten so used to them that I didn't wake up in fits of screams anymore…

…

It was strange that I was actually a little proud of myself for that.

…

I guess it was easier this time because this wasn't the first time I've had to deal with them.

The dreams were all the same from the ones I had those several months ago, with only small differences.

I was always in the forest… it was always dark… and he was never anywhere in sight… but I could his voice:

'_I'm leaving you.'… _

'_This is for your own safety.'… _

'_I've accepted the Volturi's offer.'…. _

…

That last one was new.

…

The only thing that changed in my dreams was whether I was frozen to the spot, or if I was allowed to run through the dark trees, looking for him, just like that night so long ago….

But all the dreams ended the same despite the differences: I never found him…

…

I cringed to myself at the all-too-vivid memory of that day, and of the night only a few months ago, when I had to watch him leave me for the second time...

I ran my hands through my hair as if I was scrubbing the memories away.

I could feel my throat tighten as the corners of my eyes burned.

I had only gotten him back for what seemed a moment. And he was gone….

… Again…

A little less than a year ago, when this had happened before… he said he left me in order to 'protect' me… and this time he left me in order to 'save' me.

It was funny how whenever Edward used such usually comforting words, I could only imagine the amount of pain they would cause me.

I began to wonder whether or not he really had me in his thoughts anymore… he made all of these decisions claiming they were for me, but in the end… he was the only one that gained any sort of peace from them.

My thoughts immediately revisited the words that were passed in that large throne room in Italy.

I had heard them many times in my nightmares, too.

* * *

"_She knows too much. We can't allow her to leave here alive, Aro." Caius called out to the slick-haired vampire in front of Edward again, his cold voice echoing off the stone walls of the high-ceilinged chamber._

_I remembered hearing my heartbeat quicken and feeling my stomach twist viciously as I stood there, listening to those ancient beings discuss the issue of my life. _

_Aro looked over to me, his eyes as slick as his hair, his gaze followed my own as I checked Edward's face, hoping for some reassurance._

_Aro's eyes seemed to widen with interest when he found that Edward was also looking over to me… his ochre eyes full of a sort of fear that I thought was impossible for a face of marble to hold._

…

"_Perhaps, if she were to be turned as soon as possible, we could overlook this… unfortunate situation." Marcus's softer voice offered quietly, barely disturbing the tense moment…_

_Silence fell again as the short echoes of Marcus' voice faded away, all the while, Aro's gaze shifted between me and Edward until his eyes finally stopped on Edward..._

"_No… I've a better proposal." Aro's smile, which hadn't weakened throughout the conversation, suddenly widened into a full grin. "I say we let young Edward's siren live… as long as we receive something in return."_

"_What do you want?" I heard Edward's voice almost interrupt Aro's. The desperation in Edward's voice was barely strong enough for me to hear._

_Aro simply chuckled a small, false, breathe._

"_All I ask is that we simply… borrow your talent… for a while." Aro pieced that sentence together carefully, inflecting every other word smoothly._

"_What?" Alice apparently shared my confusion._

"_In exchange for the life of your human, we will be requiring your powers _and_ your loyalty… temporarily, of cours-"_

"_Aro!"_

_Caius' voice thundered through the chamber, I flinched unwillingly. The platinum blonde vampire stood up immediately from his dark throne, anger in his ruby eyes._

"_We cannot afford such a liability to the secrecy of our kind for the sake of merely completing your '_collection_'." Caius waved a pale hand towards the line of supernaturally-gifted Volturi Guards, including Jane and Alec, none of which seemed at all insulted by their collective title._

"_Oh, but I'm sure this won't be a liability at all…" Aro's ancient eyes found mine before a moment had passed. "I think even the simplest human can understand the consequences of revealing the truth about our race… Isn't that right?" He asked that question, his voice rising a pitch, as if he was speaking to a child._

_I didn't even get a chance to think of something to do before Caius' voice interrupted._

"_That isn't enough." Caius disagreed seriously._

_I knew better than to look over at the blonde ancient when I could feel his crimson glare digging into me._

"_Wait!" I suddenly heard Alice's voice call out, breaking the silence. _

"_Yes, Alice?" Aro seemed all too pleased to have her in the conversation now. He waved a hand at the guard, the one named Felix, who was holding her away from us. She was let go… she took a few light steps towards Aro._

"_She won't tell. I've seen it. She's never planned to tell anyone about us." Her voice quivered a little as she offered her ineloquent answer._

_Aro simply held out his hand with an amused smile... He looked at her like she was a prize doll._

_She reached out her own hand to his._

_Had she not been as graceful as always, I imagined she would've been shaking._

_Aro's eyes glazed over after their hands touched, he looked towards the wall with a content, mile-long, stare before finally letting go._

"_I see…" He chuckled unnecessarily to himself… something told me he saw something more interesting than what she intended to show him. "You're quite a loyal human…" Aro was suddenly talking at me again. "…or at least a smart one." He turned away from me before I could react._

"_There, does that satiate your suspicions, Caius?"_

_The blonde ancient shared a heated glare with the innocent-faced Aro before taking his throne again, silently._

_I noticed that the one named Marcus was only looking at the scene with a pitiful look in his eye._

_I was distracted from his strange expression when Aro's voice suddenly boomed happily through the hall._

"_Now, I understand this agreement isn't quite official, and that there are other 'family matters' to attend to for the Cullens…"Aro joked playfully, his humor missing us. "So, you may leave now to make arrangements… We will send one of our own to collect our new protégé before the week is out."_

_And with those words and one last malice-tainted smile, our future was sealed…_

* * *

After what happened in Italy, there was no rest for any of us.

Even when I was finally reunited with all of the Cullen family, there wasn't any time for any sor of celebration.... not that a celebration was something we had in mind at the time anyway... not when the oldest son of the family was about to walk willingly into the Volturi's forces.

Their entire family debated over everything, each with their own idea of how we should treat the situation, while I only sat by.... being the cause of all this without being able to solve anything....

Emmett felt that violence was the best answer, but that idea was, of course, the first to be shot down.

Rosalie's argument had been the same as Emmett's, so she only ever scowled at me whenever she got a chance.

Alice had been willing to go to the Volturi in Edward's place since we all knew Aro had been interested in Alice's powers for decades, and probably wouldn't have minded the trade.

Jasper stood by Alice's side, ready to follow her to Italy if that was her decision.

Esme wanted to wait for the Volturi member to come for Edward before they negotiated any terms to whatever contract Edward was signed into.

Carlisle was willing to use his previous experience with the Volturi, as well as pull some old strings, to perhaps overturn Aro's hasty arrangement. He said that even if vampires didn't have many laws, he could've probably figured out a way to buy us some time.

… But Edward didn't hear any of it.

He ignored their offers of help, and by the end of the week, he was gone.

...

It almost felt like he had wanted to leave again…

I shook my head tiredly at the thought.

_I really shouldn't be thinking about him like that. He's over in Italy right now for me… he was willing to leave his family, his home, for me…_

… _It was for me, right?_

I let out a sigh, trying to push that question to the back of my mind.

I opened my damp eyes to take a look at the glowing numbers on my alarm clock.

'3:23am'

_Only a few more hours before I can see them…_  
I thought to myself, trying to calm down.

Even though Edward was gone, and the hole from when he left me the first time was now reopened... and was probably going to be harder to patch up than before… having the rest of the Cullens here was definitely something I was grateful for… even if I could only see them once or twice a week.

Just knowing they were here.

It helped…

...

I closed my eyes.

They didn't want to open again.

… these days I found that I could only sleep after I cried enough to dry out my eyes…

I was getting used to that, too.

...

I fell further into the darkness as I stared out the window… on the edge of consciousness I noticed something that didn't seem important enough at the time to wake up over…

The window latch was open a little, like someone had opened it since I closed it before bed.

...

… Something about that was actually comforting…

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**More to come! :)**

**(Sorry if you were expecting more in the first chapter, but I wanted to pace this series as realistically as I could [but not too slowly, of course]…)**


	2. Worries

**Chapter 2!**

**Title****: **_'Worries'_

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!!**

**Note****: Just in case you're wondering about the sudden shift in POV, I'm using 1****st**** Person for Bella and 3****rd**** Person Limited for Carlisle…**

**Anywho... hope you enjoy!**

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The wind whistled softly as a few amber leaves managed to break free from their dried branch and fall to the ground with noiseless grace.

He turned another page, the thin paper making a similar sound to the leaves of the tree brushing together.

…

A single leaf fell onto his book, he brushed it aside gently, admiring the single moment of spontaneity as he did.

A voice inaudible to humans, but louder than the wind to his own ears, whispered a single word tiredly…

"Edward…."

He looked up to the window, which was only a few feet above the branch he was seated on.

_Another nightmare….  
_The blonde vampire thought to himself, looking back at the text of his borrowed book without actually reading it.

He couldn't help but feel useless…

She was having nightmares every night, waking up three or four times because of them… always saying that name.

And he couldn't do anything but sit here and let her suffer in the darkness…

…

After the events over the past few years he had learned just how close this young woman and Edward had become…

He understood her pain…

… but now that he could hear her silent sobs as if she was sitting next to him, and has heard them over the span of these past few months… perhaps it was his overly compassionate nature getting the best of him, but he couldn't help a twinge of guilt - or sadness - every time he heard her call for Edward…. He couldn't figure out why, though.

…

A low rumbling sound, something guttural and primal, made itself heard from within the forest across the road from the Swan residence. Heavy thuds of paws falling to the ground completed the all-too-familiar chorus performed every night at around this hour.

_And so my relief appears…  
_He announced to himself, mentally.

…

He wasn't needed here anymore.

…

It technically wasn't the shape-shifter's turn till dawn, but Carlisle, knowing the boy's attachment to their mutual target of surveillance, knew better than to get in the way.

This was the way it had been working for the past few months… ever since Edward left.

Although it definitely wasn't Edward's plan to assign Jacob Black the day shift, it was Edward's direct orders that someone trustworthy would watch over Bella while he was gone 'at all times'. He apparently learned something from his previous mistake…

But the boy still hadn't learned another lesson that Carlisle knew would be harshly taught after all of this:… he shouldn't keep things from her.

Bella knew nothing about this 'surveillance' situation. She was left in the dark because it was also a part of his 'orders' that Bella couldn't know she was being supervised…

… Carlisle knew that this plan was more than a little immature… but, for whatever reason, Edward believed this was the best course of action… and it wasn't Carlisle's place to run Edward's relationship with Bella for him, so he agreed to it.

…

In the end, he wasn't quite sure why he felt so compelled to take the night shift of this arrangement… but he knew it probably had something to do with the certain amount of responsibility he felt for all of this.

He was the leader of this family, this family which Bella was now a definite part of -despite Edward's absence- and yet, he couldn't stop what had happened to his new family member after Edward left her the first time.

…

He definitely didn't anything to go wrong the second time around…

…

Another low growl rumbled from the trees, interrupting Carlisle's thoughts.

The vampire closed the book in his hand with a graceful flick before he landed on the ground, making no more sound than the leaves which had fallen there earlier.

And with a single, polite wave of acknowledgement towards the protective werewolf eyeing him warily from the forest, Carlisle left behind the quiet Swan residence… but only after he gave a second glance to the window, checking if the sobs had stopped.

…

He felt a little at ease when all he could hear were her slow, even breaths.

* * *

I was falling.

I panicked, preparing myself for a sudden impact, only to feel nothing.

I opened my eyes… I was just lying on my bed, my face buried in my pillow… I wasn't falling off that cliff… I had only fallen out of my dream…

After a moment of adjusting to the gravity of the real world again, I leaned over to the edge of my bed to get a good look at the alarm clock.

The blurry numbers sharpened after a few seconds.

'7:34am'

I let out a huff of frustration as I immediately tossed to covers aside, glad to be free.

I stumbled a little as I made my way over to the bathroom, suffering from the jetlag between the past of my nightmares and the somewhat nightmare-ish reality I was living through now.

The only thing that made any of this better was the fact that the Cullen family was only a drive away, unlike last time…

I splashed water on my face just as soon as I felt my mind wander down that all-too-well-travelled memory lane.

I couldn't think about any of that, not when I was about to go visit my second family.

**……....…**

"Another day at the Cullen's?" Charlie asked over his paper as I walked into the kitchen, fully dressed and ready to leave, he was eating his traditional soggy cereal.

I hadn't been cooking for a while now. I felt a little guilty about that, but he seemed happy to just relieve any sort of stress from my life….

... Even though he wasn't the type of parent that would bother too much over personal things… he still cared.

"Uh…. Yeah." I confirmed weakly, heading over to the sink, grabbing a glass from the cupboard.

"You going over this early?" Charlie noted the car keys in my hand as they jingled against the side of the cupboard door.

"Yeah, Alice has the whole day planned out." I answered, wearing a small smile purposefully even though I was somewhat oblivious to what exactly she was planning.

He nodded silently, turning back to his paper a little less awkwardly.

A couple of seconds of silence passed as the sink roared.

"You gonna eat something before you go?" Charlie tried to act fatherly, asking the question as a second thought.

"Um, they should have something over there." I offered an excuse that technically wasn't a lie. They actually did have a rather large stock of food already prepared, to keep up appearances... but I never asked for any of it.

There was something sort of strange, even to me, about being the only human and eating in front of a household of vampires. Besides, I still hadn't gotten back my appetite. Eating had turned into something of a chore a long time ago.

I took a sip of the tap-water in my glass before setting it down in the sink.

"Alright, Bells." Charlie spoke up again, using my outdated nickname, just like always. "Have fun." He said lastly as I made my way to the front door, his tone didn't sound too hopeful.

"Bye, Charlie. I'll be back by five." I called back to him as I closed the door behind me, telling him the hour that Alice promised she'd have me back by.

I thought that by now, after all this time, and after I had finally started to scrape together the remnants of my life back, he wouldn't have to worry about me so much.

I guess he could tell I wasn't as better as I tried to act.

…

I shoved my hands in my pockets as I jogged carefully to my truck… Falls in Forks were always really chilly.

I looked up to the sky… it was probably going to rain.

* * *

Walking into his study feeling as tired as a vampire could, having already greeted his adopted 'children' and shared a few words with his wife, he made his way over to the large, mahogany desk and to the stacks of paperwork piled on it.

He had the whole day to work on them… but when you don't sleep, and when your, also naturally-insomniacs of family members were all on tense grounds with each other… sometimes paperwork could be, albeit tedious, a little peaceful…

The tension in the household wasn't new…

Ever since Edward's untimely departure, everyone's mixed feelings about his decision had developed into some sort of tetra-sided war.

Emmett and Rosalie were together in their aggressive opinions of the matter.

Jasper supported Alice's desire to go to the Volturi in Edward's stead.

Esme grieved for Edward's absence, but was more or less resigned to the Volturi's decision.

And Carlisle was trying to keep his family from drifting too far apart, while researching for any loophole that would allow Edward's early return home.

…

Both battlefronts weren't progressing very well.

…

Many of his family members were notorious for their stubborn opinions, and there were simply no legal ways that would free Edward without somehow putting either himself or Bella into further danger.

He sat down in his chair for a moment of silence, placing the book, which he had been carrying since he left Bella's window-side, onto the padded desktop.

He realized, a little too late, his mistake.

_I ended up taking it with me…_

He smiled wryly at his absent-mindedness.

_I guess I can always return it tonight… doing so right now would only cause trouble for a certain overprotective werewolf, and I really can't hand it back to her in person…  
_He reasoned to himself, lightly.

He had taken the slightly disheveled book from Bella's bookcase after his daily check up on her, having forgotten his usual medical journal, with the intentions of returning it to its rightful place before leaving.

When he first saw it sitting on her bookshelf, he had been a little shocked to find it in the personal library of an eighteen-year-old girl.

… _but this was _Bella_, after all…_

_She really isn't much like other eighteen-year old humans._

He eyed the book again, unable to shift his attention from it to his awaiting paperwork…

He had read it only a few times over the past century… but the story was hard to forget.

… _Such a sad tale of obsessive love and self-destruction…._

His faint smile fell as the irony hit him.

He shook his head to himself as he pushed aside the worn copy of _Wuthering Heights_ and proceeded to file through the stacks of medical charts…

* * *

"Bella!" Alice called my name excitedly as she opened the door just moments before I planned to knock on it, this wasn't the first time she'd done that.

"Hey, Alice." I returned her greeting, smiling genuinely for the first time in a while.

I walked into the doorway, immediately hit by the pleasant and familiar smell of the Cullen household.

I tried to focus on the comforting memories of this scent, and not the memories of a certain bronze-haired vampire who shared it.

"I'll put your stuff upstairs, you won't need it."Alice took my bag, interrupting my thoughts before they could go any deeper, and practically danced through the living room towards the staircase with it.

It wasn't hard to spot Rosalie and Emmett lounging on the couch, her legs resting over his, both of them watching a reality show that neither of them showed much of an interest in.

"Hey, Bella." Emmett waved shortly from his seat, lacking his usual rambunctious charm.

Rosalie barely glanced at me.

I was just thankful that it wasn't a full glare this time.

.. But something seemed off about them… again.

They seemed… distant… not full of as much life as before.

I didn't know why, but every time I visited the Cullens I got the impression that… that they weren't as close as before, that whatever bonds they shared with each other were wearing thin…

I hoped I was wrong.

"You ready to go shopping?" Alice asked straight away as she walked back up to me, her own purse in hand. I suddenly understood why she decided to take my things and put them upstairs. Every time we shopped I always wanted to pay for my own stuff… she never let me.

I guess this was her way of skipping the issue altogether.

Her bubbly attitude went untarnished by the sudden faltering of my short-lived smile.

"Don't make that face. You're going to have a great time." She promised me with a perky tone.

Apparently she knew I had already decided to go.

I definitely wasn't going to turn down the opportunity of a carefree day with my best friend… even if it meant I had to undergo the hours of dress-modeling like I had done before. But before I had the chance to voice my predicted answer out loud, I was interrupted by another, smoother voice.

"Already stealing Bella away, Alice?" I immediately looked up to the staircase, where I heard the inhumanely soft voice say my name.

"I'm only borrowing her, Carlisle." Alice beamed up at the blonde vampire as he walked down the stairs, holding onto the banister, wearing dark slacks and a dress shirt.

"So what are you planning on shopping for this time?" He asked casually as he walked into the living room towards Alice and I.

I couldn't believe that he hadn't already guessed….

"Nothing that any of you need to be concerned about… yet." Alice winked cheekily.

Carlisle only laughed gently as Alice walked away and towards the front door. I followed after her.

"Bella…" I turned back to him immediately. "Don't let her get ahead of herself." He joked, smiling the same smile I remembered the nurses at the hospital practically swooning over.

"I don't think that's possible." I joked back.

"Her getting ahead of herself?" He asked as I heard the front door open behind me, Alice no doubt growing impatient.

"No, me being able to stop her."

As I finished those words I suddenly felt a small, cold hand close around my wrist and start pulling me towards the door.

"Come on, we don't have time to waste." She ordered me with faux-seriousness.

She effectively proved my joke right with that.

I heard Carlisle's warm chuckle before the front door closed behind us.

…

My worries for the Cullen family faded suddenly…

…

I had almost forgotten… Carlisle…

The vampire… the _man_ who created this clan, this family.  
He would never let this family break apart.

…

He would never leave them.

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**More coming up, soon! :D**


	3. Questions

**Chapter 3!**

**Title: **_'Questions'_

**Note:**** Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

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"Here, this one next!" She picked another dress out of the dozen or two that were hanging over her forearm.

We had already been shopping for I didn't know how many hours, but this must've been the fourth store already. I wondered if Alice had forgotten that humans didn't have an endless supply of energy.

I took the deep forest green one with the drop-back from her a little warily.

She didn't seem at all fazed by my uncertainty or exhaustion, she only smiled happily.

"Um…" I started. "Don't you usually just pull the dresses you want me to wear out of your closet? Or buy them by yourself?" I asked as I further inspected the long-trained dress which would no doubt make me fall flat on my face if I were to even try to put it on.

"Yes. But this one is special. I want you to pick it out." She explained quickly.

"I like the purple one." I pointed at a random purple dress that was a few racks away.

She shot a calculating glance at me for a moment. I was an infamously terrible liar; she probably knew why I suddenly picked one out.

"Then maybe you should try it on."She suggested cheekily as she walked over and back faster than comfortably for a human, carrying the slightly shimmering purple dress.

I had chosen it randomly, but it was actually kind of pretty.

She nudged me towards the changing room.

_Why do I even need a dress, again?_  
I asked myself, mentally, as I took one of the numbered plastic tags the woman behind the counter handed to me.

_I'll have to ask her after this…_

If _she'll tell me…_

* * *

The door closed behind her swiftly as he couldn't suppress a few more chuckles, but they died out after a few seconds.

Soon, the only other sound in the room of breathless, motionless vampires was the buzzing and chatting of the plasma screen.

The small amount of life this house had for a moment was gone again.

But not for long.

Carlisle found himself anticipating the return of not only his adopted 'daughter', but more so for Bella's return.

_Maybe some of that life will come back with her._

He smiled wryly to himself for a moment.

_Depending on a girl as riddled with sadness and loneliness as Bella for cheer… _

_That's a peculiar thought._

_But not an impossible one, I guess…_

His smile grew for only a moment before it faded away entirely.

He turned on his heel, walking away from the door smoothly.

"Emmett. Rose." He nodded warmly to them as he started up the stairs.

"Hey, Carlisle." They both said in unison, neither of them really giving him more than a nanosecond of a glance.

They still weren't on the best of terms with him. He _had_ been the one who scolded them for even thinking that aggression was any way of dealing with the Volturi.

But he wasn't quite worried about those two. He knew them too well to think that they could hold a grudge for any longer than a single year or so. They were both… _simple_, simple in the way that what they didn't hide anything- or couldn't-, they didn't hold onto to anything either. You could see their thoughts without having to be a psychic.

And after some time, they'd forget their weak rancor and move on. No, the ones he was worried about were the ones that _seemed_ perfectly fine.

Jasper. Alice. Esme.

His pace faltered a fraction when he thought of that last name.

He was only worried for the first two since they seemed so eager to leave, to take action… but for noble reasons that Carlisle couldn't keep them from taking even if he had to.

But Esme was different…

He couldn't pinpoint exactly what was causing this concern for her… for them.

But he could sense that something was changing.

Between them.

He quickly pushed that worry to one of the less occupied offices of his spacious mind as the cold doorknob twisted under his colder hand, opening to his study.

He had only come downstairs to greet their human guest before she was spirited away.

He had felt like he needed to see her… to check to see if she was at all like she was last night.

Of course she wasn't.

If you saw her walking down the street, and maybe shared a few words with her… you might be able to tell that something about her was missing… but it would be nearly impossible to tell exactly the amount of pain that girl must've been going through.

He only knew a small fraction of it from being near her for so long… what she feels inside must be infinitely worse that even he's seen.

For the second time that day he couldn't quite stop thinking about her.

It wasn't a new thought pattern.

These past several weeks she's become a more and more prominent part of all of their lives… of his life.

But she didn't even know it.

With the orders Edward left behind, and the 'surveillance system' composed of himself and the shape-shifting Jacob Black, Bella had become one of the top priorities in his life -or un-life.

So how could she not come across in his thoughts more often than before, now that he was supposed to keep an eye on her?

How could he not worry about her? Or want to help her?

Though he knew, better than some, that she definitely wasn't the type to accept help or pity –otherwise she wouldn't pretend so hard that she wasn't crying herself to sleep every night- he couldn't stop this need to watch over her… in case she ever _did_ ask for help.

That thought struck him as he was filling out one of the many signature boxes of his paperwork.

He had wondered why he took Edward's orders as his own… why he took the 'night shift'…

He had thought it was because of his guilt or his sense of duty, as the clan leader, to watch over the new member of his 'family'…

… but maybe it wasn't any of those things….

Maybe it was because he just _wanted_ to…

He couldn't focus on his work after that thought settled in his mind, as well as the dozens of other questions which followed. The main one being:

_Why_ would he have wanted to?

* * *

"So why do I need a dress, again?" I asked as casually as I could, walking out of the dressing stall, modeling the somewhat pretty dress as enthusiastically as I could… which wasn't that impressive.

I turned on the spot a little, looking down at the way the fabric fell to the floor, while avoiding eye-contact with the mirrors purposefully.

Alice made herself busy, inspecting the dress and fabric as well.

"Just because…" She half-answered musically.

I knew that voice. She was definitely planning something.

"What's gonna happen?" I asked with the tone a parent would use to ask a trouble-making child what they were up to.

"You don't have to worry about it…" She said finally, practically repeating the answer and tone she gave to Carlisle all those hours ago.

The sudden passing thought of Carlisle lightened my mood for a surprising moment…. His smile came back to mind, as well as his laughter. I suddenly remembered the comfort they gave me.

I guessed his warm energy was contagious when I couldn't stop my own smile as I spoke up again.

"If I have to wear a dress, I'm already worried." I half-joked.

Knowing that Alice could revert to her hyper-party-planner mode by hair-triggered events that I wouldn't have noticed of she didn't throw a party for it, I decided that I could probably survive whatever this was.

But, now that my curiosity was piqued, maybe I could find out through a different source. Like Jasper.

_Even though we don't talk much, he'd share something like this with me, right?_

Then I noticed something.

I hadn't seen him in a while… and I hadn't seen Esme either.

Neither of them were there at the house this morning. That was a little strange.

I decided to ask Alice about it as she was rummaging through the remaining dresses over her arm. I was a little suspicious of whether she was looking for a new one for me to try on or not. But the question I was about to ask was more important than that right now.

"Hey, I didn't see Jasper or Esme this morning. Where'd they go?"

She paused for a moment, looking at me a little curiously, probably noting the non-sequitor.

"Just hunting." She summarized with as plain of a tone that was possible for a vampire, looking through the dresses again.

I shot a questioning glance to her. I remembered last week, he wasn't there either because he was hunting.

And either my face was so transparent that she knew exactly what I was going to say, or she saw a vision of it, but she started explaining before I even started to ask my question.

"He has to go hunting more often than the rest of us." She paused for a moment. "He has a harder time controlling himself…"Concern grew in her expression. "Esme went with him so that she could keep an eye on him while I wa-" She stopped mid-word her eyebrows creasing a little as her eyes seemed to be staring miles into the floor.

"Alice?" I walked up to her, reaching an arm to get her attention.

That was the look she got whenever she was completely preoccupied by her powers.

"Something's happening." She said quietly, her eyes still not moving from their invisible target.

"What?"I started to get worried.

"Get dressed." She finally snapped out of it, immediately looking over to me, her eyes wide with urgency.

"Alice, what's going on?"I tried to get her attention again as she was swiftly sifting through the dresses stacked on her forearm, putting them back on their respective racks faster than any human could.

I looked around to see if anybody was watching. No one.

"I can't see them." She explained with only a tremor of urgency while putting the last dress on the rack.

"Wha-?"

I didn't need to finish.

I knew what that meant… or what it could mean.

* * *

He filed away the last shred of paperwork, glad to be done of it, but regretful at the same moment.

Now that he had nothing to keep his mind preoccupied- or something as weakly preoccupying as such tedious paperwork could be- he no longer had anything keeping him distracted from his worries of his family, his wife, and his…

… a title for Bella escaped him.

His new '_daught_er'?

… Something about that seemed wrong.

He couldn't thi -

"Carlisle!"

He was pulled back into reality and out of his suddenly strange thoughts when he heard the voice of his second daughter call out for him from outside the house. He immediately realized that he had missed the Volvo's car doors shutting or the sound of quick footsteps as they ran up the driveway.

It only took mere moments before he was downstairs.

"What's wrong?" He asked down to Alice as soon as she walked into the door, trying to keep a calm tone.

His daughter walked a few paces into the doorway before finally answering.

"Jasper and Esme."

He knew almost immediately what that meant.

His previous thoughts and worries seemed to pale in comparison to the new ones invading his mind right now, but none of that fear affected his expression or voice.

He immediately saw Rose and Emmett get up from their seats, looking over to Alice with the same expression.

"What?" Rosalie asked quickly.

"I can't see them. I'm going to go look for them." Alice was already turning around to go back out the front door, while managing to dodge a collision with the human girl who was walking in at the same moment, stealing Carlisle's attention away from everything for a moment.

"Ok." Carlisle acknowledged Alice's decision just before she was out from sight.

Emmett followed after her briskly, Rose right behind him, holding his hand.

"I'm not missing out on the only bit excitement around here." Emmett's lack of tact wasn't surprising, even now.

And like that, in only the course of a few seconds the search party was dispatched while Carlisle was left with the house to look after.

He noticed the slightly anxious girl again as he finally reached the final step of the stairs.

He could tell she was a little apprehensive.

"Maybe I should go hom-." She started awkwardly, not looking at him, but out the open door towards the rust-colored truck in the driveway.

"No." He stopped her from deciding on that offer. "If something _is_ happening, I-we can't risk you getting caught by yourself." He finished his reasoning while running over that slip of word in his mind.

She looked up at him after a moment, confusion in her eyes.

But before he could look into them any further, and forget exactly what he was planning to say, the sharp ring of the rarely used house phone echoed from the kitchen.

* * *

I walked into the house just as Alice was walking out again. She gave me an apologetic glance before she disappeared from sight altogether. I hadn't heard most of what they were saying, but she had told me more or less what was happening on the way here.

Whatever it was, it was important… but she couldn't see anything definite at the same time.

Before I was inside the usually-comforting doorway for more than a moment Emmett and Rosalie walked passed me with brisk force.

"Ok." I heard a patient voice from the staircase for the second time today.

I immediately felt out of place.

Whatever was going on had nothing to do with me.

Even if I was worried for Jasper and Esme, it wasn't my place to stay here, holding Carlisle back from going after them, too.

"Maybe I should go hom-"

"No." He interrupted me with a kind voice. "If something _is_ happening, I-we can't risk you getting caught by yourself." He seemed to stumble over his words for a moment.

There was a part of me that immediately felt grateful to him…. But I was too confused to wonder exactly why I was relieved to know he didn't want me to leave.

_Why is he worried about _me?

_This _can't_ be about me, can it?_

"Whatever it is shouldn't be about me, right?" I voiced my question with an unsteady tone just as the first ring of the Cullens' phone faded away.

I didn't know the kind of life the Cullens had before I was around, even though I had gone through a couple of… adventures with them… I was always involved in some way or another.

This time it couldn't be about me, could it?… Now that I'm only on the sidelines of this family, hoping they don't mind me tagging along, I shouldn't be causing any more trouble…

He looked back to me, his light bronze eyes, accented by his platinum hair, found mine before I knew I was staring into them.

And before he had to add any words to the expression he was wearing I knew exactly what he was thinking.

'Victoria'

The phone rang again, the noise taking his eyes away from mine too soon.

I didn't know why… but… I didn't want him to look away.

It felt like I would lose something if he did.

He turned towards the kitchen, about ready to leave me in the living room before he spoke over his shoulder.

"I'll get this. But I think you should call Charlie to let him know you might not be back when you thought you'd be." He advised quietly without looking at me again.

I snapped to my senses and out this strange moment.

He was right. I had to call Charlie.

My open hands patted against my pockets for a moment, feeling for my cell phone. It wasn't there. I racked my brain for a second, feeling a little rushed when I heard the fourth ring end short and Carlisle's soft voice greet whoever was on the other line cautiously. Then I remembered.

Alice put my stuff upstairs.

With another glance towards the kitchen I tried to jog upstairs, tripped once but was lucky enough to make it to the second story without injury.

Knowing Alice, she probably put my bag in some sort of closet…. As if a sign to validate my suspicions I immediately saw a linen closet at the top of the stairs.

I opened it quickly, finding my bag laying on top of the fresh-scented blankets that the Cullens probably only placed here for appearances-sake.

I rummaged through it carelessly until I felt the cold plastic of my cell phone, flipping it open and dialing home in one motion.

I got the machine.

I guess I couldn't expect Charlie to hang around the house the whole day on his rare days off. The beep of our machine hurt my ear a little.

"Um… Hey, Charlie. I might be a little later than I said…. We just sat down to watch a movie a while ago… so yeah." I wondered if he could tell I was lying just by the sound of my voice. Then again, Charlie was never talented at spotting my lies. "…So don't get worried and send out a search party or something." I cringed at the accidentally tasteless joke I made in my moment of anxiety. I paced the hallway chewing on my nail. My eyes caught an open door as I finished those words, the soft glow of light pouring from the doorway….

I was drawn to it for some reason.

"… Hope you get this message. See you at - …. home." I remembered to add the last word of that sentence a little late after I realized what room this was.

I flipped my phone shut, not paying any further attention to it as I slowly walked into the mahogany-paneled room which was saturated with the warm scent of books and something like cologne (but I knew better than to think that there would be any need for cologne in this house).

It was Carlisle's study…

He must've left the door open when he came downstairs to see Alice a few minutes ago.

I was almost tempted by the feeling that I was being intrusive to leave the room… that was until I caught sight of a painfully familiar scene on the wall.

A painting… of a secret and ancient throne-room in Italy.

My eyes were glued to it and the faces within it.

I couldn't look away.

The three thrones, the blonde-haired Cassius to the right, the solemn-faced Marcus to the left, and the slick-haired innocent-lipped Aro in the middle.

It looked so… familiar.

Except one thing wasn't quite right.

I took a few more steps toward the painting, ignoring my common sense telling me that I didn't need to get so close to a painting to look at it.

The one thing about this painting that stood out was a man, in the background, he should've been shrouded by the dark sense of authority that the painted figures exuded, like the others were in the painting, but he was too bright to be overshadowed.

It wasn't difficult to recognize the golden-haired, golden-eyed man with a distinct jaw line even if he was dressed in seventeenth-century nobleman attire.

Seeing the members of the Volturi again, exactly as I remembered them… and Carlisle behind them, in their flanks…

Edward had told me he was once a part of them… but I had almost forgotten.

I reached up to the canvas, my fingertips almost touching the aged and slightly cracked paint-strokes.

"That was a call from an old friend of mine." I heard that voice from the doorway and I nearly fell over with shock, but my body settled for ungracefully jerking my hand away from the painting and stumbling back a few paces almost bumping into his desk.

It didn't surprise me he knew where I was. He'd just have to listen for the only heartbeat in the house.

I wasn't even really surprised by the fact that I hadn't heard the slightest sound until he said something.

I was mostly shocked by the fact that he caught me snooping in his room, staring into his centuries-old portrait.

"Sorry." I said quietly, unable to think of anything else to say, really.

I looked over to him, he was leaning against the jamb of the door.

"You don't need to apologize, Bella." His voice was completely reassuring, it seemed to sound especially kind when he said my name. (But that was probably just my hearing.)

Even if he said that, I still felt a little nosy for even being in here.

"It's just that…" I turned back to the painting, farther away than I was before, but still able to recognize every detail from my memories. "… it looks exactly the same as I remember it." I finished, my voice growing quieter, slower.

I heard a small chuckle from the doorway.

I looked back to him, my eyes looking for his lips… I had wanted to see him smile again…

… it was comforting.

"It is a little haunting." He agreed with a gentle voice, pushing himself off of the doorway, taking a few slow strides towards the painting in front of me.

I forced myself to look away from him after a few seconds, trying to keep myself from staring.

I had no place else to look than the painting again.

My eyes immediately found his face within it… the only kind face, the only source of lightness, in the painting's heavy atmosphere.

"You haven't changed at all…" I said mostly to myself, not thinking before I heard the words leave me.

Another chuckle from behind me.

I was really started to like that sound more and more.

"I guess I haven't… not physically at least." I looked back to his real face after he added that last statement with a tone of fond reminiscence. I managed to catch his smile fade as his lips tightened slightly.

He turned away from me before I could look up to his eyes. He took a few steps toward his desk.

He picked up some papers, most of them had the hospital's name printed on the corner.

He sorted through them more than a moment longer.

I weaned my eyes away from his hands and towards the portrait again.

It had been several months since I was here, in this spot, looking at this painting… back then I had different company. I tried not to think about him.

As if my mind was subconsciously trying to distract me, I suddenly had a question.

Something I had wondered once before, but could never ask him before now.

"Why did you join them?" I asked with a quiet voice, almost a whisper… but I knew he wouldn't have any trouble hearing me.

I heard the papers stop moving, his voice replaced the momentary silence.

"... They were-_are_-" He corrected himself. "…the greatest power of our world."

I turned back to look at him, curious to see what expression he was wearing when his voice suddenly turned somber like that. "I felt that I could learn from them…." He finished wistfully.

"Did you?" I already knew the answer when his golden eyes met mine, his eyebrows pulled together a little solemnly.

"I learned things I would never teach others."

His eyes kept mine for a long moment before I remembered how to speak and ask the next question I was -for some reason I didn't know yet- anxious to learn the answer to.

"Is that why you left?"

I turned towards him completely, unblinkingly staring into his eyes which still didn't move from mine.

"Among other reasons…" He smiled wryly, staring into my eyes longer than I ever remembered Carlisle doing so before. But it was over, his eyes were gone, and his smile wasn't as real as before when he suddenly started talking again. I felt empty for a moment. "But we really shouldn't be talking about this with a Volturi member practically at our door."

My brain clicked after only a second.

"What?" I asked, fear taking over my voice for a second.

"Don't worry." His was soothing again. "He's an _old_ friend from my days with the Volturi." My eyes couldn't focus on his face as I was suddenly looking around the room, trying to think thorugh exactly what this could mean. Did this mean they had a message? Did this mean Edward was coming back? Or did this mean they were renegotiating the 'contract'? But before my eyes could find any answers to these questions, they immediately found a new source of confusion. "He was the one who called a few minutes ago to give us a heads-up. He was a little late but-"

I cut him off as soon as I could find words again.

I reached out my hand to his desk, my fingers landing on the familiar, worn binding of a book.

The golden lettering on the book's cover shimmering in the lamplight, _Wuthering Heights_.

"Is this-?" I couldn't finish my question.

"Carlisle!" A voice from downstairs suddenly called his name, but this time it was Emmett's who was calling for the man in front of me with a tone I could only describe as 'excited'… But when Emmett sounded like that, it wasn't usually a good sign.

Carlisle only stared into my own wide eyes, completely silent…

I could feel my heart harden and slow with tension.

I suddenly felt an ice-cold, marble-textured hand close around mine, and before I could process that my feet were moving I was already being pulled through the doorway… gently.

"I'll explain later." He said in a hushed voice, completely dodging a real answer as to why a book, a book that had been mine for years now, and had been sitting in my bookcase since the last time I read it, was now on his desktop.

He peeked around the staircase, trying to see something.

"That boo-" He cut me off.

"You need to leave now." He whispered quietly back to me. It was like he was ignoring my question. I could only manage to give him a confused expression before he started talking again. "Even if he was a friend, we can't trust a Volturi member around humans, not while we're still unsure of his intentions. I'll send Rosalie up to show you a way out, wait right here."

He immediately straightened his posture and started to go down the staircase as if he was completely undisturbed by anythihng. He was already a few steps away before I could stop him.

"Carlisle." I called for his attention, feeling strangely awkward for using his name so casually, but he immediately turned towards me again.

He must've seen something in the look I was giving him.

His serious eyes softened a little.

"I'll explain everything later…" He repeated kindly just as he started down the steps again, leaving me behind. "I'm sorry, Bella." He said lastly…

… again, I noticed how soft his voice sounded whenever he said my name. 


End file.
